Of loose doves and velvet boxes
by SherlocksDoctor
Summary: (Sequel to 'To sleep or not to sleep) (Can be read as a stand alone) Pitch has decided to further his relationship with Jack and pop the big question, unfortunately every force of nature seems to be working against him today.
1. A slight problem

It was a cold, dim, boring Monday morning. All was silent in Pitch's lair. Jack was hoarding all the covers to one side of the bed as he had discovered that a bit of warm wasn't always that bad. The Nightmares were kept in their newly installed stables that he had constructed soon after the frost prince had moved into the nightmare king's abode. Jack simply couldn't stand that they had free reign over the lair all hours of the day, just free to gallivant around and cover the floor in lairs of nightmare dust that cascaded off their bodies as they moved.

Oddly enough if one listened hard enough they would be able to hear a harsh whispering that was echoing off the caves walls.

"What do you mean you lost it!" The voice was low and said in such a menacing tone that even if the speaker wore a pink tutu and a princess crown bopping people on the head with a wand while he spoke, you would still know he meant business. (Not that I'm saying he's not wearing that, but I'm also not saying he is.) Another frantic voice could be heard on the other side of the phone that Pitch black, king of nightmares, was holding in a near death grip up to his face. Pitch scrunched his eyebrows together tightly and clenched his empty hand into a tight fist.

"Are you telling me that you all just happened to lose it the day I have had planned for the last _three months?!" _This day was supposed to be perfect. But no it was dark and dreary outside and while Pitch usually rejoiced in dark days like this, today was not the day for this. Today was the day he was finally going to propose to Jack. They had been a couple for sixteen and a half years, which while a long time for humans was actually really short for spirits. After all Loki and Helios dated for 23 years before getting married. Marriage was taken completely serious among spirits. Spirits didn't believe in divorce as they viewed that as the breaking of vows, which was something highly frowned upon in their society. Pitch Black however was one of the oldest spirits on the planet and if he knew one thing, just one thing. He knew that the feeling that Jack gave him in his stomach anytime he smiled or laughed or snuggled into him when he was asleep or even when he woke up on Christmas morning and to a houseful of guardians and Jack yelling about presents. Pitch knew that this feeling would never go away. He knew that in way over a thousand years, he had never felt that way about anyone and he wasn't willing to wait until the society around him said it was acceptable to put a ring on his Jack's finger. Not wanting to wake up Jack, (Who was asleep in the bed across the room) Pitch decided to end this argument early.

"You will have that ring in my hand by 7 o'clock on the dot." Leaving no room for argument he slammed the phone shut.

Jack had always wondered why he Got a flip phone when it seemed everyone else in the world had the newest version of the I-phone and now would be the best way to explain that. Just pushing a button to end an angry conversation didn't feel right, Pitch much preferred to hear the snap when he shut the phone. Jack of course said that he had problems and maybe he should 'use your little flip phone to call up a psychiatrist, because you've got problems.'

Rubbing his temple he went to wake up Jack, just because Cupid was being an idiot did not mean that he would let that ruin his day. Besides, they had plans. Kneeling down to Jack's side of the bed, Pitch reached over to shake Jack awake.

"Jack, c'mon my little snowflake, time to wake up." Jack's brow furrowed and he popped opened a bleary eye.

"Did you just call me 'your little snowflake'?" Pitch nearly cursed, he was being too obvious now.

"Of course not..I said... Why are you not awake?" 'Smooth Pitch,' He thought trying to avoid looking into Jack's eye.

"Uh-huh sure, so why am I getting up now?" Jack yawned as he sat up, trying to brush the sleep from his eyes. Pitch reached over to run his hands through Jack's unkempt hair.

"It's a secret." Pitch whispered mysteriously before smirking and standing up.

"So come on and get dressed, I want to get there before it starts getting too hot out." Pitch walked out of the room before Jack could start to question him about their destination. Pitch had this whole day planned and now all he could do was hope that the rain in Burgess would subside before 7:00. But Pitch Black wasn't going to let a little rain stand in the way of his perfect day. It was the beginning of Spring and the perfect temperature for Jack to go outside without feeling uncomfortable, it was also coincidentally the perfect day to propose to the very same silver-haired ice spirit.

**AN- Well this didn't come out as well as I wished I could have written it, but here it is. I guess this could also be read as a stand alone (Meaning you don't have to read the original), but it I'm writing it as the sequel to 'To sleep or not to sleep'**


	2. Watch the water

Jack yawned as he slumped out of bed, adorning only his blue snowflake boxers (Which of course were a gift from Bunnymund who thought he was being funny).

"Hey Pitch, do I have time to take a quick shower?" He felt all clammy and gross, but he supposed it was his own fault for sleeping under so many covers. Pitch thought for a few moments before replying positively.

"Just make sure it's quick. Oh and put these on." From the doorway Pitch threw Jack something bright red. It hit Jack in the face and he flailed around a little before taking it off to see what it was. It was a bright red pair of super short swim shorts. Jack spluttered and blushed a red as his frozen body would let him.

"Wha-what! You don't actually expect me to wear this do you?!" Pitch's dark laughter filled the room and he smirked daringly at Jack.

"Well then I suppose you don't want to find out where we're going then, besides, you'll look cute." Still chuckling Pitch left the room to go back and tend to the nightmares. Jack glared at the shorts before sighing and heading into the bathroom. While Jack was in the shower Pitch changed his shadow robe into a pair of black swim shorts that went to about his knees.

Just a few minutes later Jack came barreling out of the bedroom, his shorts just a hands length down on his thigh.

"So where are we going?" Jack asked while trying to see if he could push his shorts down a little so he didn't feel so exposed. Pitch sauntered over to Jack,

"It's a surprise." He whispered before meeting Jacks lips with his own. Pitch used the contact to jump through the shadows with Jack. It was almost a full minute before Jack realized they had switched locations, he withdrew from Pitch's lips, panting from his lack of breath, when he felt the sun hitting his back. Jack opened his eyes and gasped when he saw where they had arrived. Flawless white sand surrounded them and an expanse of crystal clear water spread out all before them. Jack had only been to a beach once before and even then he couldn't stay long. The heat always got to him before he could even manage to fly to his destination, and the only months when he could actually stand the weather were winter months when he was working on spreading snow everywhere. Wherever Pitch had brought them however seemed to have the perfect temperature. It wasn't too hot nor too cold and a cool breeze was blowing as well. Jack could barely hold in excitement, he jumped into Pitch's arms and hugged him as tight as he could manage. Pitch however, not expecting it was sent falling backwards into the sand. He rolled over so that he was above Jack, his legs resting to the sides of Jack's. He leaned down and kissed Jack who intertwined his hands with Pitch's.

"'Jack as much as I love this, we only have a few hours here. We do have other things planned for today." Though he spoke the words he didn't seem too keen to follow them as he continued spreading heated kisses down Jack's neck. Jack laughed and tried to wiggle out from underneath Pitch.

Pitch finally rolled over to let Jack up who went speeding towards the water,

"Come on Pitch!" He called gleefully as he waded into the water. He squealed as a striped fish swam past his foot. Pitch followed him in and looked disdainfully at all the fish swimming around them. Along with ice-skating, Pitch had never developed a fondness for swimming, but he supposed the look on Jack's face was worth it. He had made it about waist deep in the water when a little further ahead he saw eyes peeping above the water. He had needed to take a second look and when he realized that there were indeed eyes staring at him he had jumped to the conclusion that it was the spirit of fun that he was in the water with, but soon realized that 1.) Jack was only a few feet away from him playing with some fish and 2.) Jack didn't have red eyes. With wide eyes Pitch realized he had made a mistake in bringing Jack to this beach. _And then it attacked._

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AN- This was short. Sorry. But I will have another chapter up by tomorrow morning, (At least I hope because I go by the "Every 70 views is a new chapter" rule) Anyway what did you think? I know it's not as funny as the other story but I will try and get it there next chapter. **Please review! It takes a second and put me in a happy 'Hey maybe I'll write a chapter sooner' mood! **Oh and thanks to **beobsessed** for reviewing


	3. Lunch

The creature lunged out of the water and straight at Pitch. Pitch unable to move fast enough in the water to get away, did the only thing he could do; He punched it in the face. The creature obviously didn't expect such a simple move and let out a howl.

"My nose! What is wrong with you? You wouldn't like it if your food suddenly reached out and punch you in the face so why do you do it?" The voice was nasally and high pitched, definitely not what you would expect coming from the slimy dark green mer-man. Pitch looked incredulously at him before glancing over to make sure nothing had attacked Jack.

Jack, who had heard all the commotion from where Pitch was, was turning around to see what was happening. Pitch, in a moment of panic pushed the water spirit under the water. The spirit began to kick up a fuss and thrash around, making water spray up from every direction. Jack looked over in confusion.

"Pitch...What are you doing?" Although he had known the nightmare king well for over fifteen years, sometimes he was still surprised by the older spirits antics. Pitch flashed Jack a nervous smile.

"Oh nothing Jack, I'm just playing with the local wildlife. You know how much I just_ love _making new friends." 'More like loathe' thought Pitch as he gritted his teeth together. He hadn't been forced to say anything as horrible as that since Christmas when he Tooth had made a fruit cake and Jack had used his puppy dog eyes to make Pitch say something nice about the flavored rock that he had to endure that dinner. Jack looked as if he was going to say something but a spray of water from further out distracted him. He looked over, only to see a rather large dorsal fin headed his way. Fast.

"Oh look a dolphin!" He exclaimed happily, he had read about them in some of North's national geographic books. However, Pitch, the one in the relationship who actually seemed to have some sense realized with startling alarm that there was no dolphin. That was a shark and it was heading right towards Jack. Pitch let go of the thrashing mer-man and used his shadows to get to Jack before the shark could, but not before the mer-man latched itself to his ankle. Pitch disregarded this for a moment as he grabbed a hold of Jack's arm and pulled them through the shadows once more.

They all landed in a heap on the beach and the sand clung to their wet skin.

"What did you do that for Pitch, I could have ridden a dolphin!" Jack shouted as he stood up, placing two stern hands on his hips. It was then that he noticed they weren't alone on the beach.

"Oh hi! Who are you?" His tone completely changed and he flew over to help the green tailed man up. Pitch felt a pang of jealously ring in his chest, this was supposed to be his and Jack's day, not his, Jack's and some random scaly man-eating monster from the ocean! Before the creature could answer Pitch did.

"He's just some random flesh eater from the water, just give me a moment and I'll have him back where he belongs." Though Pitch tried to keep his tone light he couldn't help the dark undertone that came to rest in his voice. It was the same darkness that promised that where the water spirit belonged was somewhere hot and dry and miles away from the sea and Jack. The creature curled his tail and used the end of it to keep himself standing. He allowed a smirk to cross his lips and something dangerous flashed through his eyes.

"Oh there'll be no need for that now that I see you two aren't normal humans. You see, my name is Poseidon. I am the spirit of the sea." Pitch was starting to think that Manny set things up like this on purpose.

"Well then, how about we get you back in the water?" Pitch's voice was as tight as his smile.

"You're the sea spirit? That's so cool, Pitch did you hear him? He's the sea spirit!" Jack was nearly bouncing on his feet, Pitch tried his best not to groan.

"Yes, I heard him Jack. Now how about we get you back in the water?" He asked once more. Poseidon smiled, revealing sharp teeth that were definitely not made for a vegetarian.

"Back in the water? What a great idea, how about I take you and Jack down to my underwater palace? It's so rare that I get to meet non-water spirits, how would you like to join me for lunch?" Before Pitch could decline Jack jumped forward with a 'That would be awesome!' and soon Poseidon was flopping back towards the water, the with an ice and shadow spirit following. Pitch felt something twist in his stomach and he hoped that his stomach wasn't as sentient as North's seemed, because if it was, the feeling in his stomach that something was about to go very wrong, wouldn't be all too wrong.

He curled his lip as Poseidon's webbed hands curled around both his and Jack's shoulder, the slimy fingers pushing an unwelcome cold against his grey skin. He would have told Jack that they were heading to their next destination right now and could go with the water spirit but looking at the personified snowflake he realized he wasn't going to be the one who willingly took that beautiful smile off of his future fiance's face. Pitch nodded at Poseidon and within just a few seconds they were speeding through the water at an inhuman speed, the water pressing against them heavily from all angles. Just before Pitch felt that he couldn't hold his breath any longer, (Which was odd seeing as he was an immortal being who really didn't need oxygen as much) they sprang up above the water. The couple took their time gasping for air before looking around at their surroundings. They were in a large throne room that looked to be built with see-through walls looking out into the ocean and the wildlife that swam around it.

"Now," Began Poseidon looking at them with a hungry expression,

"Which one of you shall join the lunch menu?"

AN- Oh look, another cliffhanger. Sorry I took so long in updating but hey, I did say I work by the 70 views rule and it took until this morning to get to 70 views. ( Which is surprising, seeing as the first chapter did it in a few hours) So just so this situation doesn't come up again I'll change it to 70 views or 3 reviews. Just so I'm actually sure that enough people are reading that I can actually go on to the next chapter. Oh and also, while you await the next chapter you might want to try reading 'To sleep or not to sleep' as this is kinda the sequel of that. And thanks to the two people who reviewed; **_NittleGrasper12_** and **kitchan**


	4. Frost

Jack looked flabbergasted for a moment before breathed out a peal of laughter which became louder and more uncontrollable to the point that he was on the floor shaking and gasping for breath. Poseidon, if anything, looked miffed.

"Well I must say I've never gotten that reaction before." he huffed and crossed his scaly green arms, but not making any move to attack them at that moment. Pitch glowered at everything surrounding him.

"Jack, next time I suggest throwing a sea spirit back in the water and hightailing it out of the area I expect you to agree." Poseidon raised a black eyebrow at this.

"You make it seem as if there will be a 'next time'." That dark smile from before was back and those teeth didn't look anymore friendlier than they had a few minutes before, in fact, now they looked as if they were currently discussing...Politics. Their pointed edges glinted maliciously at Pitch and Jack, who had by now calmed himself down and pushed himself into a sitting position.

"My fishy friend, do you happen to know who we are?" Said Jack in a nonchalant tone, gripping Pitch's hand to pull himself up. The nightmare king pulled Jack to his chest and rested his chin on the top of the frost spirits head. Smirking he looked down at the mer-man who even standing on the edge of his tail, was just a few inches taller than Jack, who in turn was a full head shorter than Pitch. Poseidon felt something in his stomach turn as he looked up into the cold, golden eyes that were glaring down at him. He supposed it had been quite stupid to think that he could take on two people at once, but hey, a man can dream.

"Well I imagine if I was suicidal I would answer 'My lunch', but tall dark and scary here seems to have other plans. So humor me, who are you." He hopped over to his dining table and sat down atop the table, his tail could only support him for so long after all. Pitch chuckled, but it came out as more of a deep rumble.

"Well you may have heard of us before, I am Pitch Black, and this is my... boyfriend, Jack Frost." He couldn't help but sneer at the word 'boyfriend' it sounded so juvenile to him. He was just glad that after tonight he could change that to fiancé.

While Pitch was lost in his musings he didn't get to see the way Poseidon's face paled and the water outside pulsed and scattered the many fish that surrounded the palace.

"T-the nightmare king and the frost prince?" Asked Poseidon with a noticeable tremor in his voice. Jack broke away from Pitch's firm hold and nearly flew up to Poseidon's face.

"The frost prince? Is that really what they're calling me nowadays?" He asked eagerly, placing his hands on the table next to the mer-man. unfortunately in his eagerness a trail of frost drifted from his hands and circled around Poseidon who looked to be nearly shaking with fear.

"Get him away! I'll let you all go just don't freeze me!" Poseidon jumped up from the table in alarm as the frost traveled much to close to his watery skin. Jack held his hands up in a form of surrender.

"Err, sorry I didn't realize, I didn't mean to freak you out it just happens some times!" Jack stepped forward to show him he was really harmless and Poseidon flopped backwards and fell to the floor.

"Keep him away! Just leave the way you came, I'm sorry I was gonna eat you two just please don't freeze me!" Jack was going to continue to try and talk sense into Poseidon but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Jack looked behind him wide eyes and Pitch just shook his head and lead him to the hole in the floor which led back into the ocean.

"I've just check and Poseidon over there seems to have wards around this place to keep his prey from leaving, so we will need to jump in the water to get out." At Jack's nod Pitch jumped into the water, Jack following a few second later.

Pitch opened his eyes despite the sting from the water and reached out for Jack who had his eyes clenched shut. He still disliked being in deep water, fear was coming from him in waves and with concerned eyes Pitch shadow-ported them out of the water. They arrived silently at their next destination; The labyrinth beyond the goblin city. He figured Jack would enjoy seeing all the creatures in the labyrinth and Jack always did seem interested in all of those couples games so solving a labyrinth sounded like a fun couples game to him. He had already checked to see if the Goblin king was home and- Pitch looked down to see that Jack had buried his self in pitch's robes.

"Jack, are you okay?" If that slimy fish did anything to him while he wasn't looking he was going right back there to beat his- Jack gave a soft cry and tried his best to keep from bursting into tears.

"Why?" asked Jack after tightening his grip on the robes, his voice cracking sadly.

"Why, what Jack?"

"Why do people always have to fear me? I would never hurt someone on purpose, why do they always assume that I want to hurt them?" He gave an uncontrollable shudder and Pitch pulled him closer, bringing his mouth to Jack's ear he whispered.

"Jack, you are the most wonderful being on the face of this planet, but some creatures out there only judge based on what they've heard, not what they learn. That's one of the reasons I love you, you're impossible not to love. You're kindhearted and loud and he funnest man I'll ever meet. When I look into your eyes I can't help but wonder how such a wonderful man could ever come to love someone like me. Every morning I wake up and think of how lucky I am that I get to wake up next to you, Jack Frost and I almost pity all the men who will never know the joy I feel every time I see you smile. Almost." Jack looked up at Pitch, wonder filling his teary blue eyes.

"Do you really mean all that?" Said Jack, who was so awe-struck by the words the man in front of him had spoken that he didn't notice the short cupid flying overhead muttering about 'Goblins and their tendency to steal shiny things.' Pitch kissed Jack tenderly before pulling away to give his whispered reply.

"_With every fiber of my being_." Jack felt all the breath leave his lungs and he couldn't help but think that Pitch was the man he wanted wake up with every morning and go to sleep beside every night.

"Now what do you say we go solve ourselves a labyrinth?" Still too breathless to speak Jack just nodded and softly took Pitch's grey hand

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** AN- I know that both Jack and Pitch seem really out of character but there has been 15 years that have passes that were full of experiences that have changed them as people. (Experiences that weren't always for the better, which is why Jack is so.. I guess you could say 'soft' now, but I'm not telling you all what happened!) ((In this story at least)) Any way and sorry about how horribly all this romance stuff is written but I'm not very well versed in all that (One day I'll go through and make it sound more realistic but until then) Thanks to everyone who reviewed!)**


	5. Author's note

Sorry but this is not a chapter so much as an authors note, but please read as it it important!

OK so I recently started up an Ao3 account and realized that this was supposed to be a trilogy but I've started writing it out of order! So I'm going to write the actual sequel (Which will take place EXACTLY after they appear in Pitch's lair. Muahahaha) Please just consider this major spoilers (But this will also go under major editing, although the plot will stay the same, once I finish the real sequel I will have an idea of what Pitch and Jack's personality will be like 15 years later. Sorry for the inconvenience!

-SherlocksDoctor


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